Wednesday, August 21, 2013

I
have been following Nancy’s and WOUGNET’s Uganda blogs for some time now, often
stopping my work for a prayer and tears. It is a great honor to write in this Arise
magazine of innovation and style. My mother, now 94, was a tough feminist
before her time, raising three boys while my father was on the road. She taught
full time while getting her Master's in Education at Columbia University in New
York City. I still have memories of her on her bed, sandwich in hand, with
books and papers long after the nightly chores were done. Later, when raising
my own daughter, Maya, I would drop her off at elementary school each morning
telling her “Get straight A’s, go to a good school and change the world.” In my
family, learning is everything. Today, Maya is a special needs teacher in
Brooklyn, NY. This being said, I ponder what a visionary strategist in learning
technology could offer to my sisters in Africa. My life has been filled with
riots in Kenya’s Rift Valley, the oppression of multinational factories, and
the tears of beaten homeless women in the U.S. along with a Brooklyn church with races from
all over the world. I cannot write another dry white paper, so here is a letter
from an old father to his daughters about the gift of the global power you have
yet to fully realize.

I am writing to you
about the health of your hearts and the power you have been given as women. I
know life can be a long, hard road of oppression, bad deals and injustice. It
is easy to harden your hearts. Have faith, your road is coming to an end. You
have been given evolutionary gifts that you are just beginning to understand
and leverage. I am writing you to tell you that we see you standing proud and
transforming the world, but you can do so much more, so much faster. This
generation has been blessed with a unity and strength that transcends the
globe, but you must accept the gift technology brings, lock arms and use it.
This magazine is just a taste of what could be a truly wondrous world for your
children.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Below is a Link to a 20 page white paper I developed as a
labor of love (no charge download at Academia.edu) for my many friends in
Africa and colleagues in academia. As one of my Linkedin contacts thought you
might like a copy. The paper is filled with strategic and marketing tips to
help expand the Internet’s global education reach. Teacher and community
leaders need greater access to the Internet but also need the Teleco’s to
partner with them on how to leverage the Internet’s content and collaborative
resources. We invite you to share this
link with fellow government, education and ICT leaders.

This unique paper evolved from a diner with New York City
university professors and lawyers having a discussion about the issues around
deploying broad band and Internet technology in Africa and developing
countries. Because of my work in developing the Global Learning Framework and
channel programs of Novell and Microsoft, these leader challenged me to place
my views on paper.

The paper outlines how “Human Collaboration” is the killer
application for Internet and that if the Teleco’s fully grasp that we can work
together in our marketing and infrastructure programs in such a way that it
grows the African (and other continent’s) infrastructure as a whole. My US
perspective on this comes from building NYC first Technology Center, ICT education
program and research on education, Internet learning and poverty.

In that I was once a marketing manager for MCI International
I invite you to explore this paper with an open heart. It is written as a fun
radical read, you will not be bored. We then urge you to reflect on your
marketing and channel programs. Ray Norda’ concept of co-opitition transformed
the global LAN market along with corporate culture forever. From our UNESCO
workshops in Africa it is apparent that we are at the beginning of something
truly remarkable. Our opportunity for radical growth is way beyond what our
traditional forecast models can reflect.

Grab a coffee or tea and enjoy the read. Share with friends.
Please provide me with views.